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Coachella Valley High School 'retires' Arab mascot

The Coachella Valley Unified School District confirmed Friday that it has retired the school's controversial "Arab" mascot that prompted objections from an anti-discrimination group last year. When the CV High football team takes the field against Rancho Mirage High for its season opener on Friday night, the mascot will be absent.

Coachella Valley High School 'retires' Arab mascot

Football may be back at Coachella Valley High School, but the mascot is gone.

The Coachella Valley Unified School District confirmed Friday that it has retired the school's controversial "Arab" mascot that prompted objections from an anti-discrimination group last year. When the CV High football team takes the field against Rancho Mirage High for its season opener on Friday night, the mascot will be absent.

The Arab mascot costume was a cartoonish, headscarf-wearing man with a hooked nose, a thick beard and a devilish mustache. He often appeared with a bellydancing genie during halftime. The genie has been retired as well, according to the district.

The removal of these mascots is the first major change at CV High since the school came under fire last year. But the school district has promised that more changes are coming.

Although the Arab mascot is gone from the sidelines, his face is still everywhere at CV High. The school's logo — the mascot's snarling face, with a single tooth — is still featured on the school's welcome sign, the school website and a giant mural on the campus gym. Other school buildings are covered in murals that have been called stereotypical, including a lamp and a book that looks like a flying carpet.

These images — the mascot, the logo and murals — drew the attention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a civil rights group in Washington, D.C. Last November, the group sent a letter accusing the district of "orientalist stereotyping," thrusting the school into a national media spotlight.

On Thursday, Abed Ayoub, a representative of the anti-discrimination committee, said the retirement of the mascot was a good first step. Of the Arab imagery at the school, the mascot was the most offensive, so it makes sense that he was the first to go, Ayoub said.

The Coachella Valley Unified School District confirmed Friday that it has retired the school’s controversial “Arab” mascot that prompted objections from an anti-discrimination group last year. (Aug. 29, 2014)
Brett Kelman/The Desert Sun

The anti-discrimination group has also approved one of the new designs for a school logo — a major milestone for choosing the new face of CV High.

The district submitted five options to the group last spring, Ayoub said. The group favored a new design: A stoic, strong-jawed man with a neatly trimmed beard, a white headscarf and his face half-covered in shadow.

"We passed it around to experts and community members," Ayoub said. "We took our time to get the opinion of that logo, and it was overwhelmingly positive."

Although this new design has the blessing of the anti-discrimination group, it still needs approval from the east valley school board. It is unclear when the board will address the logo issue.

In a statement released Friday, Coachella Valley Unified said it would soon call a joint news conference with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to discuss a final resolution to the mascot controversy.

"The District and the ADC are close to resolving this matter in a very positive manner," the district statement said. "We hope that those witnessing our collaboration will follow our lead and keep their eyes, ears and hearts open to the feelings of others."

Coachella Valley High has used an Arab mascot since the 1920s, when the school unveiled a drawing of a lance-wielding horseman with a striped headscarf. In the '50s, the school traded the horseman for two new drawings: a standing figure with a scimitar and the angry face of an older man wearing a fez. In the '80s, the angry face swapped the fez for a headscarf, becoming the school logo that exists today. This logo was used for decades before anyone objected.

First, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee sent its letter objecting to the mascot. The letter prompted a story by Al Jazeera America, the U.S. branch of the leading Arab news network, and quickly spread to USA Today and other national news organizations, sparking a slew of online criticism against the school. After the story went viral, both the Huffington Post and Cracked.com said the mascot was among the most tasteless and embarrassing in the country.

However, as criticism mounted online, support grew at home. After the school made national news, students and alumni rallied behind the mascot, demanding that the district leave it unchanged. Many pointed to the mascot's deep roots: The school introduced its "Arab" identity more than 90 years ago to celebrate how the east valley date industry created a spiritual link with the Middle East.

As a compromise, Coachella Valley Unified announced plans to keep the "Arab" name, but redesign the "Arab" face. The district formed a mascot committee — comprised of school leaders, alumni and students — to recommend a new school logo. This committee first proposed the redesigned logo that the anti-discrimination group has now approved.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached by phone at (760) 778-4642, by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com, or on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.